About

“The habit of forming associations, becomes possible to understand practically all the important economic and social developments merely by examining the activities of voluntary organizations. . . . Associations are created, extended and worked in the United States more quickly, and effectively than in any other country.”
—James Bryce, 1888

The Historical Society of American Fraternalism’s (HSAF) purpose is to preserve the history and sentiments of the millions of men and women who were members of countless American fraternal organizations.* There exist research centers, libraries and museums, and countless websites dedicated to nearly every topic in American history and popular culture, yet not one physical or digital location is strictly dedicated to American fraternalism. Moreover, even those repositories or websites that document fraternalism are dominated by Freemasonry. While the HSAF recognizes Freemasonry to be the oldest, largest and most significant fraternal organization, the HSAF believes Freemasonry has so dominated the attention of scholars and research centers, as to stunt and discourage the understanding and preservation of the hundreds of other American fraternal orders– from the Odd Fellows to the Sons of Vulcan to the PEO Sisterhood.

Therefore, Historical Society for American Fraternalism (HSAF) shall have THREE primary goals focused on non-Masonic (+link to the Masonic page) fraternal organizations:

* Examples of Ritual-based volunteer associations: Knights of Pythias, Sons of Italy, Delta Tau Delta college fraternity, The Grand Army of the Republic, the Ancient Order of Workmen, etc. (The HSAF will NOT pursue information on secret, revolutionary, illegal or extra-legal organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Molly Maquires, Black Hand, neo-Nazi or Communists parties.)

Goals

1- Build a “Wikipedia” website of every obtainable fact related to American Fraternalism.

Modeled after Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org), the HSAF website will eventually contain over a million separate wiki pages of information on American fraternalism. The HSAF welcomes any person sincerely volunteering to compile information and to create wiki pages. Contact us for more information.
The foundation of this website is Albert Steven’s The Cyclopeida of Fraternalism (1899). This book is digitized and the HSAF website has divided every non-Masonic entry into separate searchable entries. With this foundation, the entries will be supplemented with information from similar fraternal reference books, such A, Pruess, A Dictionary of Secret and Other Societies. (1924) and A.J. Schmidt, Fraternal Organizations (1980) into consistent histories.
In due time, HSAF editors will create, expand, and improve more information to perpetually grow the website. For example, Theodore Ross’ Odd Fellowship; Its History and Manual (1892) contains charts and tables of the statistical growth of the Odd Fellows throughout the United States. These statistics will be created into separate wiki pages. Like Wikipedia these pages will be crossed referenced by year, by name, by organization, by events and other classifications. Lists of every Odd Fellow lodge ever chartered, lists of every Odd Fellow home and every resident of the homes, every officer of every lodge, etc., etc. will be placed in wiki pages. Similar information will be found and posted on the Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Order of United Workman, the Loyal Order of Moose, and potentially hundreds of other non-Masonic American Fraternal organizations.

Supplementing, documenting, and adorning, the Wiki pages will be a world-leading library of fraternal images. The library will have images of fraternal art, regalia, architecture, portraits and groups shots. It is hoped images of an Odd Fellows Hall will be matched with the data on when the lodge was active in the hall and group images of its officers, and membership. This lodge wiki page might also include portraits supplied by the ancestors of past members or to be identified by a genealogist.
Beyond still photographs, the library will include video, audio, and digitized books and other publications.

3- Acquire, inventory, exhibition, and preserve every obtainable artifact, book, archive, object, and every form of media related to American fraternalism.

To further achieve this mission, the HSAF will promote and support research, publications, exhibition and all other public programs and media on the history of American fraternal history and culture. The HSAF will actively look to partner with, and support existing non-Masonic fraternal organizations to preserve and document their history. The HSAF will also partner with scholarly and academic institutions, museums, libraries and repositories of fraternal history.

Board of Directors

Mark A. TabbertDirector

Born and raised in Iowa, Mark graduated from Allegheny College with a B.A. in European History in 1986. He received his M.A. in American History and Museum Studies at Duquesne University in 1996 while working at the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh, PA. Between 1997 and 1998 he worked for the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis, Missouri. During this time he became a Freemason in Malta Lodge 318, AF&AM in Burlington, Iowa.In 1999 he began work at the Scottish Rite Masonic National Heritage Museum in Lexington, MA as Curator of Masonic and Fraternal Collections. In 2005 the National Heritage Museum and New York University Press jointly published his book “American Freemasons: Three Centuries of Building Communities.” In 2006 he moved to the George Washington Masonic National Memorial Association in Alexandria, VA. He is the Director of Collections and overseas the library, museum, exhibitions and other special projects. As a Freemason, he is a Past Master of two lodges, a full member of Quatour Coronati Lodge 2076, London, England and a past president of the Masonic Library & Museum Association. He edited and published “Secret Societies in America & Other Foundational Studies in Fraternalism,” selected and edited with William D. Moore, Ph.D., (New Orleans, Cornerstone Publishing, 2012).

Heather K. CallowayDirector

Heather is currently serving as the Executive Director of University Collections at Indiana University. She has spent the past 18 years working in museum, archival and special collections settings in higher education and nonprofits, including caring for fraternal memorabilia at the House of the Temple in Washington, D.C. She is a cofounder (with colleague Raven Bishop) of The Augmented Archives Project, an initiative designed to leverage emerging technologies to increase access to and engagement with primary source materials. Heather earned her B.A. from the University of New Mexico, her Masters in Theological Studies from the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, her Masters in Library Science from the University of Maryland College Park and her doctorate in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania. Heather is a native New Mexican, born and raised in Albuquerque. She currently serves as a member of the national Board of Archives for the Episcopal Church and as an active alumnae advisor for Alpha Chi Omega.

Seth C. AnthonyDirector

An active member of many fraternal orders, Seth brings to the board a love of fraternal history. Seth is probably best known for his collection of fezzes, which he curates at the Museum of Fezology. He also collects Past Presiding Officer jewels and ephemera relating to little known fraternal groups. His research interests include early Odd Fellows social organizations, specifically the Imperial Order of Muscovites, and fraternal history in Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Elizabethtown (PA) Area Historical Society. He holds a BA in Psychology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and an MS in Organizational Management from Capella University. He is employed professionally as a communications manager for an advertising firm.

Michael P.F. GreenzeigerDirector

Michael has been involved with fraternal organizations for the majority of his life, having first begun in the Order of the Arrow, the service fraternity associated with Boy Scouts of America during high school. His main involvement has been with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has served as Noble Grand for multiple lodges in addition to holding Grand Lodge office, as well as its appendant bodies. Michael is a past Supreme Khalifah, the second ranking officer internationally, for the Ancient Mystic Order of Samaritans, the fez-wearing social body for Odd Fellows. He has also been involved with a variety of other fraternal bodies. A dedicated ritualist, Michael has made a historical study of the evolution of the symbolism in Odd Fellows ritual in particular. He brings a keen insight into the symbolism used by fraternal orders in their regalia and degree work. By day, Michael works as a Data Scientist in the high tech field. He received a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst as well as a M.S. in Neuroscience from Brandeis University. He is originally from the State of Massachusetts but presently resides in California.

Jeffrey MaynorDirector

Jeff was born into a family with a long connection to fraternalism (even though he didn’t know it at first!) and raised in the small town of Gardnerville, NV. After graduating from high school he attended Louisiana State University obtaining a BS in Chemical Engineering and becoming a 4 year letterman on LSU’s swim team as a walk-on. A chance encounter with a book written and self-published by a distant relative on the genealogy of one side of the family ignited an interest in filling in the gaps in that narrative and in developing a connection to those ancestors through Masonic participation. Jeff became a Freemason in St. James Lodge No. 47 in 2010, and since then has served as Master of that Lodge, and affiliated with numerous Masonic appendant bodies. Jeff’s primary passions are centered around historical ritual development and preserving the ephemera of fraternalism that often tells a better story than “official” record. He currently resides in Baton Rouge, LA with his wife and two young sons, and works as a Senior Engineer for Shell Oil.

Ken ModerDirector

Ken Moder was born in Chicago and grew up in Cicero. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from DePaul University in 1976 and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois in 1981. Soon after he began work at Eli Lilly & Co. in West Lafayette, IN as process development chemist. He retired as a Research Scientist after 28 years and began two new careers. First, he opened the J. H. Rathbone Museum and Resource Center for the collection, preservation, and display of American Fraternities and fraternal history. Second, missing the chemistry lab, he began lecturing at Ivy Tech Community College. He was recently honored as the Adjunct Professor of the Lafayette Region of the Year and later Indiana State Adjunct Professor of the Year. He is a Past Grand Recorder of the Knights of Pythias of Indiana and is a member or the Knights of Pythias Dramatic Order Knights of Khorrason. As a Freemason he is also a 32nd degree Scottish Rite Sublime Prince and active in High Twelve International. He is also a member of the B.P.O Elk. His wife Jill is a nurse, an accountant, a H&R Block store manager and a trustee of the J.H. Rathbone Museum.

Travis NormandDirector

Born and raised in Texas, Travis graduated from Texas A&M University with a B.B.A. in Marketing and B.B.A in Management. Travis has also earned an M.S. in Marketing from Texas A&M University and a J.D. from South Texas College of Law. He joined Sul Ross Lodge No. 1300 (Grand Lodge of Texas AF&AM) and became a Master Mason in 2004. Later that year, he joined St. Alban’s Lodge No. 1455 of which he is a Past Master, and he received his Scottish Rite Degrees in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he is a plural member of the Houston, Texas and Santa Fe Valleys. Travis’ interests in fraternalism began before he joined the masonic fraternity as he started researching college fraternities and secret campus organizations long before becoming a mason. Travis currently lives in College Station, Texas with his wife and two children where he maintains his law practice and is active in his lodge, the Scottish Rite, and researching his multiple areas of fraternal interest.